Degree 180
by terratasha
Summary: Sequel to There's No Time Like the Present: Regal's been defeated, Chaud and Emery have their mom back, Terra and Skyler are starting over with their father, and the whole gang is starting high school at Dentech Academy. But everything normal? No. There's a new threat on the horizon, plus this one "little" incident that's going to turn this group of friends on their ears.
1. Prologue

Chapter 0

Prologue

A security navi looked around with remarkable disinterest as he made his rounds. Everything was quiet as always. Ever since Regal had finally been defeated the cyberworld had become just about as peaceful as the one which had created it. Minimal data thefts, and attempted hackings were all that was being dealt with now, after all not everyone in the world was completely honest. But it was nothing that either security navis or the net police couldn't handle.

"Section 24B secure." the navi stated as he spoke to his superior.

"Good work." the higher ranked navi replied. "More on to subsection Delta."

"Affirmative." the underling replied as he sighed off, taking an access panel to his destination. He honestly wanted another job, having been created for it aside, it was rather boring. A job based on what could happen, not necessarily for what would. But as he walked into the next block, he would experience the one thing that could ever be considered a highlight in his existence. It was when he spotted the navi, the one draining power from one of the data stations.

"Hey who are you? You don't have clearance to be in here!" the security navi exclaimed.

When the said individual turned around it sent a shiver down the navi's spine. The crimson eyes were piercing, as if they were looking right through him. Then it sneered.

"What are you going to do about it?" it asked.

"What?"

"Can you do what is necessarily to do your job?" it asked again.

"If I have to." the security navi replied as he raised his cannon. When the navi still didn't leave he fired, but it didn't even leave a scratch.

The other navi shook his head in disapproval. "Still too soft." he replied as he returned fire; the action logging the security navi out immediately. Walking over to the spot where the navi once stood he still shook his head. It was pathetic how the cyberworld was protected. Didn't they ever learn from their mistakes?

TBC


	2. Darkness Rises

Chapter 1

Darkness Rises

"Eagle Shield, battlechip in download!" Chaud exclaimed as he threw the barrier to block the oncoming attacks. "Lan now!"

"Whatever you say boss!" the boy replied as he launched himself in the air above the shield's edge popping off an attack of his own. "Vulcan!" Lan exclaimed as the huge gun appeared on his arms shooting off the legion of plasma bullets. But the opposing side easily swatted them away.

"Please, like that was ever going to work." One of them stated.

Lan's eyes narrowed, "Well lets see how you like this! Guys now!" Lan exclaimed, giving the signal, queuing both Terra and Tasha to do their thing, the two of them taking off.

"Dream Aura battlechip in!" Mega called out a he threw up the shield attempting to stop the two in their tracks.

"Is that all you got?" Terra asked as she and Tasha leaped up. "Long sword, battlechip in!" the two called out together, as they called up the blade sacrificing them as they both jammed them into the top of the shield as they swung themselves over, bring it down in the process.

"Jump!" Lan and Chaud said as they both formed Zeta cannons over their wrists and and hands firing the horizontal blast, the girls flipping over it; Terra and Tasha grinned madly as the zeta cannon blast did it's thing slamming all four navi's against the far wall.

"Ha! How do you like dem apples?" Lan exclaimed when he saw that his plan had worked. Everyone else on his team excluding Chaud was grinning like the cat from _Alice in Wonderland._

"Not as much as you're going to like these!" Mega exclaimed as he suddenly threw a huge wall of energy that slammed into his sibling and his teammates throwing them into the air, and then against the floor flat on their backs, open for an attack.

"Whisper Staff!" Terra exclaimed as she brought forth her new default, her sister descending on her with one of her own. Terra struggling to get off the ground.

Ever since things had calmed down Keifer had wanted the group to focus on their training, and it had been his brilliant idea to suggest that the navis act as the teachers, which unfortunately open a huge can of worms. Chaud, Lan, Tasha, and Terra were all competitive enough on their own without having their siblings assert dominance. Of course it wasn't like Keifer knew that.

"UUUHHHHHAAAA!" Terra groaned as she pushed up with her staff as hard as she could catching just enough of a break to allow her to roll to the side and scramble to her feet, only leaving her open to receive a blast from her sister's shock blaster.

"Typhon!" Tasha called out bring up a wind attack throwing it at Breeze.

"Stone body!" the girl said in retaliation, her frame becoming more solid allowing her to jump through Tasha's attack and delivering one of her own knocking her back and into Terra who had been thrown by another.

"Well this is just peachy." Tasha commented as she stayed on the floor.

"You're telling me," Terra said back watching Breeze and Whisper circle them like hyenas, then glancing back at the boys who were in the middle of a sparring session. "Doesn't look like the guys are making any progress either."

"At least they aren't on their backsides."

"True."

"They're enjoying this aren't they?"

Terra looked into her sister's eyes, Whisper had always been the quiet one, the one that was shyer—more reserved. But this, this was something she was better at. Or a least more experienced. Terra looked back at her friend.

"You actually had to ask that question?"

Tasha smiled, "Seamed appropriate at the time, have any ideas?"

Terra shrugged, "Fight out way out?"

* * *

"Long sword, battlechip in download!" Lan exclaimed as he raised the blade above his head to protect himself from the one that was coming down on him.

"Novel move." Mega commented as he backed away getting ready to asses his next attack.

"Not going to go easy on me are you?" Lan asked.

"Why should I?" It's not as if any of the bad guys are going to go easy on you." Mega replied as he went in again.

"Hero sword, custom sword, battlechips in download!" Chaud and Proto exclaimed as they called out their respective weapons clashing against one another as the blades met. Out of all the navi/human pairings Chaud and Emery were the least competitive; having been raised apart they didn't have that drive to supersede each other.

Chaud groaned as he pushed back against his older brother's assault just enough that he could sidestep and get behind him, quickly bringing his blade across the back of Proto's calves sending him to the ground.

Proto chuckled as the absorbed a HP recovery chip to reverse the damage, "You're getting better," he replied as he rearmed himself with his default sword. "Let's see if you can do it again."

Chaud smiled.

"Bring it."

* * *

Terra sighed as she and Tasha watched the boys spar from the exact same spot they had been sent to just a few moments before.

"I am so jealous of them right now." The girl commented as she rested her head on her right hand sitting cross legged on the floor.

"Tell me about it." Tasha agreed. "I don't know how Keifer ever thought that this was a good idea them being siblings aside any navi having been pared to a human as long as we have would know their partner inside and out; it's like fighting your shadow. If he wanted us to get anything done he should have mixed us up.

"And have is end up memorizing each other's fighting style after a while?" Terra asked. "That probably wouldn't be much better."

"Why?" Tasha asked.

"Well for safety reasons, just think about it. What if something happened to us one day? What if for whatever reason one of us went rouge or our mind was compromised and we were forced to fight each other? Someone would know everything. If you ask me it's always good practice to keep at least some trade secrets to yourself."

"Yeah I guess." Tasha replied once she thought about it.

"What?" Terra asked slightly annoyed when her sister looked down on her with an eyebrow cocked.

Whisper scoffed for a second. "Well are you two going to sit here all day and chat or are you actually going to do something and practice?"

Terra cut her eyes back. "And have my butt handed to me again? I don't think so."

Breeze looked over at her cousin. "What's you're excuse?"

Tasha contemplated for a minute before simply shrugging. "I don't recall have one."

"Well you better do something because either way you're going to have to act." Whisper replied as she brought out her staff once more. Breeze calling up her wind sword.

Terra and Tasha still didn't move, whatever happened it was going to be over quick; but it ended up that nothing happened at all as Dr. Hikari called the end of their practice session.

"Ok, guys that's enough for today you can take off." Dr. Hikari called out over the intercom.

Terra grinned. Saved by the ball as always.

* * *

"I cannot understand why this is so hard." Lan stated as he leaned up against the wall waiting on the girls who were taking longer to get out to the lobby. "I've fought darkloids, I've deleted darkloids, and I can't even win a practice match against my own brother. What is up with that? That makes no sense."

"Actually it makes perfect sense." Mega piped up.

"No one asked you." Lan shot back cutting his eyes.

"Well actually Lan it does make sense." Chaud added as he joined in. "The only time Mega's been deleted was from that cheap shot from Pharaohman, otherwise he's been undefeated. You learned your battle style from him, it's only natural that he'd the ability to beat you."

"Not to mention I'm the one who's lived in the cyberworld for the past eight years, I've got more experience."

"Yeah I guess" Lan replied. "But none of that helps us with Keifer. "He sees us getting out butts handed to us by you, he's not going to think that deeply, he's going to think somethings wrong."

"Well we'll just have to explain it to him." Terra stated as she, Tasha, Breeze and Whisper walked into the room. "He can be reasonable when he's in a good mood. And he has no reason not to be in one now with Regal gone. Not to mention he's promised to back off with school starting and everything."

"Maybe, but it still feels lousy to lose every time." Lan said looking over at Hub.

"What can I say? It's good for you ego little bro."

"Really?" Lan asked. "You sure you just don't enjoy it?"

Hub chuckled. "I've never tried to deny it."

Lan growled, he was defiantly the most competitive out of all of them. "Anyway," he said as he decided to change the subject. "What took you two so long?"

Tasha looked at him in confession. "What are you taking about?'' She asked.

"Just now, what took you two so long to get out of practice?"

"Umm, I had to go to the bathroom, what's it to you?"

"You see there? That's another thing I don't get." Lan continued as he began a new tangent. ''Why is it that boys can get out of a bathroom in like two seconds and girls take all day?"

"Yeah because we really want to get into that conversation." Chaud stated sarcastically.

Terra looked over at Lan concerned, he was always a little random but this was something else entirely.

"Is he withdrawing from something?'' She asked as she looked over at Hub.

Mega chuckled. "Yeah, summer. He's always like this before school starts again. He goes through stages like a twelve step program. If you think this is something you should see him this afternoon.''

Terra balked, "I think I'll pass."

"Speaking of afternoon what are you two doing with yours?" Chaud asked inquiring of Terra and Tasha.

"Shopping with Maylu and Shuko." They repied.

"Again?" Lan asked. ''You guys have been doing that all week, today's Thursday and besides we have uniforms now, exactly what are you getting?''

"You're kidding me right?" Tasha asked, "Didn't we just mention that we're shopping with Maylu and Shuko? Do have any idea how hard that is? Her reputation still precedes her! It takes forever just to find someone to help us, then we have keep Spoutman from crying when something doesn't fit right or the last thing in her size has a rip, or a tear or a snag, it's exhausting."

"Not to mention that even though we have uniforms we can still get creative with it." Terra added. "It's more of a super strict dress code than anything else, we still get to choose a lot of stuff. We get the option of either skirt or pants, we can have different styles of skirts, blouses, vests, polos, sweaters, blazers, blah, blah, blah..."

"But we're stuck with the school colors: royal purple, navy blue, black and silver." Lan retorted.

"Well I happen to like those colors, it dosen't bother me." Terra replied. "Besides we can choose other hues too as long as they're a blue or a purple, I don't see what the big deal is."

"The deal is we're either going to look like Barney or a Smurf."

"You're impossibe Lan." Tasha chimed in. "Hate it or not come tomorrow you're wearing those colors. And you should be thankful that one of the colors is blue; you'll still be able to wear your bandana. Think if you couldn't, you'd either have to deal with that crazy hair all day or get a hair cut."

Lan suddenly was at a loss for words.

"You need any help or transportation?" Proto asked with a slight chuckle.

"You're offering?" Whisper asked sweetly with the air of an in-joke, "How gentlemanly.''

"Well we've got nothing better to do today." Chaud added. "I've already gotten all my clothes. Plus mom's been smothering us with back-to-school excitement, it's like we're back in kindergarten. I'm excited that she's excited, but I need a break even if it is just for a few hours."

"It's going to be more than just a few hours." Breeze added as she joined in. These two haven't even bought new makeup. They're going to spend at least two hours in Sephora. We're taking about a triathlon of a shopping trip. You probably wont get home until 10:30 or 11:00."

"Your parents are going to let you stay out that late?" Mega asked.

Tasha chuckled. ''Number one, she's exaggerating-slightly-number two school doesn't take in tomorrow until 10. So even if we did stay out late we'd still have plenty of time to get enough sleep and get there with time to spare."

"You sure you two still want to help out?" Terra asked. "Usually boys hear the word make-up an head for the hills."

Chaud shrugged his shoulders. "'I have no problem with that. Like I said I just want to get out of the house."

"What exactly is you mom doing?" Terra asked. She was finding it hard to think of anything Aunt Cathy was doing that would make Chaud and Emery avoid the house.

"Well it's not so much what she's doing, it's just that we're not use to it, all that motherly attention." Proto replied.

"Yeah I kinda feel bad about skipping out on her.'' Chaud added.

"I don't think you guys should worry,'' Terra stated. "Give her some time to think it over and she'll probably realize what's going on."

"Hopefully," Chaud said, "I wouldn't want her to think that we're uncomfortable."

"She won't," Whisper added. "Once she realizes how hyped up she's been she'll cool off."

"I hope so" Chaud began to say when he was interrupted by Scilab's alarm suddenly going off interrupting his thoughts. The sound confusing the children since it was only used when a major incursion was taking someplace on the net; and nothing like that had taken place since Regal's death. The teens only hoped that someone new wasn't trying to take his place. Not when school was fixing to start.

"Maybe they're just testing it?'' Lan offered as he looked around at his friends knowing they were all thinking the same thing. But no sooner had he said that everyone's PET's went off, Famous' face filing the screen.

"Oh good you guys haven't left the building." Famous stated when he recognized the lab's lobby. "We've got trouble..."

* * *

"What's going on?'' Chaud asked as the group entered the situation room taking over on his role as their leader.

"It's not another terrorist group is it?'' Tasha asked as she came in noticing a security navi that was being repaired but was in bad shape. The poor guy had almost been torn in half.

"No it's something much worse I'm afraid." Dr. Hikari stated as he approached the group.

"What could be worse than another terrorist group Dad?'' Lan asked. "Nebula nearly brought the world to its knees."

"Bass EXE." Famous replied as he redisplayed the damaged navi on the screen. This kind of destruction is his handiwork. And this," Famous continued as he zoomed in on some of the foreign plasma that as still trapped in the navi's wounds, "is his power signature.''

"He's resurfaced again.'' Mega said in a low voice. His dad was right, this was worse than a net terrorist group. Bass was unpredictable, powerful, and dangerous.

No one knew just how powerful he was except his creator and he had vanished over 16 years earlier; but from what people had witnessed in the past-he included-he was mankind's biggest threat. Weird thing was the solo navi had never personally acted on his hatred of humanity. He had always used others. Shadowman, Allegro, even himself. Mega had been Bass' first host for his malevolent intentions.

"This navi was a security guard at the Hall of Records at City Hall, when he confronted Bass this is what happened to him." Dr. Hikari added.

"What would he be doing at the Hall of Records?'' Tasha asked.

"Well before the navi went off line he said that Bass was drawing off information. My best guess is that he's catching up on what he's missed since he went underground. Since he destroyed Allegro he hasn't had any contact with the world." Dr. Hikari replied.

"Catching up?'' Terra asked as she noticed the the scientists use of the present tense.

"He's still there." Famous replied as he switched the monitor to a video feed of City Hall still showing the dark navi still cyphering off data. "And we need you to get him out."

"Wha-" Tasha began to say when Chaud brought up his arm in front of her. "We'll get it done."

"Be careful." Dr. Hikari stated as he address the group but it was more for his son's than anyone else.

* * *

"You mean we'll get ourselves done." Tasha commented as the group headed out of SciLab and headed toward the heart of the metropolis to City Hall. "No one knows how powerful Bass is, we're going to be nothing more than his play things; and that's if we're fortunate."

"Tasha we have to go, who else is going to? We can't just let Bass do what he wants." Terra stated as she looked over at her friend.

"That's very reassuring." Tasha replied.

"Well what do you expect us to do? Just stand around and do nothing? Bass could so a lot of damage."

"Bass'll do enough damage either way."

"You know I personally think everyone over estimates Bass." Lan commented.

"Over estimates?" Terra asked, "Now I know I'm not as pessimistic as Tasha here but we are still talking about the same solo navi aren't we?"

"He wasn't really what I'd call truly solo." Lan replied.

"You mean Dr. Cossack?" Chaud asked. "Isn't he the one who started this mess? He left Bass for dead."

"But he did have a human connection at one point. That should tell you something."

"What are you getting at?" Chaud asked.

"I just think there's something there." Lan replied. "I've had more contact with him than anyone and believe me he's not evil incarnate. He's always said that he's going to bring about the end of humanity, be the one to take out Hub and he's got the power to do it, but he's never done it. Why do you think that is?"

"Something's holding him back." Chaud commented.

"Exactly."

"You know Lan that's not bad." Terra said as she thought about it.

The brunette shrugged, "I have my moments."

"Yeah, but I'm not necessarily sure that helps us any." Mega states as he piped up. "Bass' rage stems from being betrayed by his creator, he's scared; and a calloused heart's more dangerous then anything."

Proto scoffed. "Well whatever Bass' problem is we're still going to have to deal with him, we're here."

* * *

"Wow this place is kinda eerie with no one around." Terra commented as the group made their way through the huge, evacuated building. "It's huge."

"Have you spotted anything yet?" Chaud asked as Proto, Mega, Whisper and Breeze made their way through the buildings systems.

"No not yet," Proto replied, "things have gotten quite but he's still here, I can sense him."

"Well keep on it, we're going to keep looking on our end." Chaud stated as he ended the transmission.

"What do you think he looking for exactly?" Whisper asked as she walked along feeling a little jumpy. Bass was like a phantom, he could be anywhere.

"More faults of mankind," Mega supplied, "It's what he's always searched for. He can't get a fix on humanity. Every time he's condemned it to destruction somethings gotten in the way, and until he can prove to himself that all humans are as bad as the ones who tried to delete him, he can't make a move."

"You mean someone." Breeze said as she stopped in her tracks. "He's after you."

"What are you talking about?" Whisper asked.

"There's only been one consistent thing that's occurred every time Bass has shown up, Mega and Lan were there. He's obsessed with you."

"He always did say that you and he were the same." Proto stated.

"A shadow of his former self." Mega whispered. "It's a trap. You guys need to get out of here!"

"What!?" Proto asked.

"You guys need to get out of here! Warn Lan and the others! Ge-" Mega exclaimed not getting to finish his warning as the data beneath his feet collapsed causing him to plummet deeper into the network.

"Mega!" Proto exclaimed as he reached for his friend in vain, the link closing over him.

"He lured us here." Whisper stated. "What do we do?"

"Warn the others," Proto replied, "Mega's right, Bass'll be after them, especially Lan."

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH, UUUUUUUUUUHHH!" Mega yelled as his fall slowly ebbed until he was slowly floating before his feet finally found the floor.

"You know I thought you'd never get here." A voice said in the darkness as Bass melted into view. "You're usually so punctual."

"What do you want?" Mega asked not even bothering to turn around, feeling a sneer crawl across the dark navi's face.

"You."

"Then leave everyone else out of it."

"Heh, too late. How is Lan by the way?"

* * *

"So exactly what is it that were suppose to be looking for?" Terra asked as the group continued to walk through the building. "Bass isn't going to be found if he doesn't want to be."

"Some clue as to what he's up to. He's always has a plan; and maybe we could find it quicker if someone wasn't dragging their feet." Chaud said as he looked back at Lan who was lagging behind. "Lan?" the teen asked when the other boy didn't make his usual comeback.

"Uhh, guys?" Lan asked as he showed the others has right hand which seamed to be phasing in and out. "What's going on?"

"It's Bass, Lan!" Chaud exclaimed as he rushed to his friend, but it was too late, he was gone.

"Chaud you guys need to get out of here now! It's a trap!'' Proto exclaimed as the group logged back into the main system.

"Its too late." Chaud replied, "Bass already has Lan."

"You don't think he'll hurt him do you?'' Whisper asked.

Chaud grimaced, "I'd imagine Bass'll do almost anything to get Mega to cross over."

"Well he could never discover the truth now could he?'' Terra asked.

"What do you mean?" Tasha asked.

"Well think about it," Terra replied. "Bass wants Mega on his side because of his power and because he trusts him. To him Mega's like a distant memory of himself before he was betrayed. But how do you think Bass would react of he found out that Mega's human?"

"Bass is using Lan as his barging chip." Proto added as he realized what Terra was getting at. "He could slip."

"That would be bad." Breeze commented, "What can we do?"

"Nothing at this point." Tasha said. "We just have to hope for the best."

* * *

"Huh," Lan gasped as his eyes sprang open taking in his surroundings finding himself in a strange room. Where was he?

* * *

"What did you do to Lan?" Mega asked as he watched the sneer on Bass' face grow ever deeper.

"Just got him out of the way so we could talk, I didn't need him trying to interfere. He's holding you back you know." Bass replied as he began to encircle the other navi, Mega turned with him, never allowing his back to be to Bass.

Mega scoffed. "How so?"

Bass' expression continued to grow in seriousness. "Do you have any idea how powerful you really are?" The dark navi asked. "How much you could accomplished for our kind? We could be free of humanity, go our own way. Do you actually think that Lan would ever allow that to happen?"

"There's nothing wrong with humanity." Mega replied trying to keep his body expressionless. "Lan's my best friend, there's no one I'd rather be with. I've told you this already."

"Don't tell me there's nothing wrong with humanity!" Bass roared as he threw off his cloak exposing his scar. "Humanity would have killed me, and they are all the same. Lan's going to betray you too, just give him time."

"I don't believe that."

This time it was Bass' turn to scoff. "How can you be so blind?" The navi asked in a tone that almost sounded like a plead, catching Mega off guard.

"How can you be?" Mega asked back. "You've seen how Lan and I are together, you've seen how his friends are with their navi's. Do you honestly think that they or people like them would ever treat us like those scientists treated you? I admit that there are people that treat navis as expendable, but people like Lan far out number them. I'll never stop believing in Lan because I know he'll never stop believing in me. And I think you know that. It's why you keep coming back."

"What?"

"You're not the only one whose been watching over the years, I've been watching you too. How many times have you had the opportunity to strike out against humanity? Or take me out? Countless? But you've never gone through with it. Have you ever asked yourself why? It's because you can't. You don't even believe in it yourself." Mega replied as he stood his ground. He couldn't believe that he had gotten his far, but that was something that he had noticed in his experience with Bass. Around everyone else he was unstoppable, but with him and Lan he showed his weak points. Lan and he had to remind him of the friendship that he had had with Dr. Cossack; and because of that he wanted nothing more than to destroy it to prove to himself that it could never really exist. But that was something that the dark navi could never accomplish so he would continue to come back and try again.

"I know you were hurt, I understand that," Mega continued as he tried to get through, "but you can't judge humanity against the actions of a few. If you would just look at humans unbiased you'd see! We could end this! Test me! Test Lan, test our friends, they would die for us before they'd turn their backs."

"You'd stake your life on that? You know for a fact that Lan would do that for you?" Bass asked.

"I already have," Mega replied, "you just weren't there to see it."

"You like being someone's possession? Not being free?"

"I don't see it that way, if you want to talk about possession everyone belongs to someone; humans included, children belong to their parents, wives belong to husbands and vice-versa. But when you love someone none of that matters, you don't even think about that. I just with you could see it."

"Well then I guess just this once we'll have to do it your way." Bass replied in a way that caused Mega to get a little nervous.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You have such a high regard for your human companions, and we're going to see just how much of that trust they deserve. This is what you wanted isn't it?" Bass asked as smoke began to fill the system masking his exit. "Oh, and by the way I think you're going to need this," the navi continued as a link appeared before Mega, "it'll take you to the location of your operator. And just so you know, I'd never intentionally harm Lan, if you ever choose to be free of him, that responsibility would be all yours." When the smoke finally dissipated there was no trace of him.

Mega just stood still in stunned silence.

What had he started?

* * *

"Hello?" Lan called out for about the hundredth time as he paced franticly around the small room. So Bass had discovered the dematerilization program; that was great. Not only that but he was stuck, he had no idea where he was or what Bass was planning. He could have just wanted him out of the way so he could be with Mega alone, or he could have had something a little more permanent in mind... Lan shuddered at the thought pushing it out of his head, he couldn't dwell on something like that. But the momentary calm didn't last long when Lan began to hear footsteps coming toward him from outside. He hastily grabbed the closest thing to a weapon that the room had which was a broom, mentally chiding himself, like that would actually be any good against someone like Bass. He watched carefully as the doorknob began to turn waiting for it to open, swing blindly when it did.

"Lan what are you doing?" Mega asked as he caught the broomstick just before it connected with his face. "Are you crazy?"

"Sorry," Lan apologized, "I thought you were Bass."

Mega looked back at the slender wooden pole in his hand. "And this would have done what exactly?"

Lan shrugged, "I see your alive." he stated, "What did our friendly neighborhood nemesis want?"

"What he always wants: my allegiance." Mega replied, "But I think I may have made a huge mistake."

* * *

"You challenged Bass?" Proto asked. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"

"Believe me I know, it just kinda came out. It was all I could think of to say." Mega replied as he looked around at everyone. After he had found Lan they had all regrouped and were currently on their way back to SciLab.

"Well it had to happen sometime." Chaud added. "When you think about it this is they only way this rivalry is ever going to end. Bass is obsessed with wrecking you two's relationship. It's the only thing that's ever held him back. Until you guys have a final showdown to settle everything once and for all it's never going to stop."

"But if someone gets hurt-"

"Mega don't worry about it." Whisper said as she chimed in. "You weren't wrong when you said we'd die for each other. If you're right about Bass- that he's not as bad as he comes off as- that he's just hurt. I don't think he'd take things that far. He probably couldn't handle that kind if guilt."

"You think he's scared?" Terra asked.

"Bass?" Lan asked. "What could Bass ever be afraid of?"

"I'm not talking about fear in the sense of mortality." Terra replied. "You said it yourself the only person that Bass ever had a connection with was Cossack. When everyone else was afraid of Bass and what he stood for Cossack was always there- and then he wasn't. He abandoned his greatest work. Bass is probably just as afraid of humanity as we are of him. I mean not only would he have to deal with the prejudice, but he'd have to believe that any more connections that he'd form with humans wouldn't backfire like they did before. Everyone has that fear of nonacceptance for whatever reason. I'm sure Bass is no different."

"What do you think he's going to do? I mean how could he really test us with out us knowing?" Tasha asked.

"Yeah, he is a pretty noticeable guy." Breeze added.

"I don't know." Mega said as he spoke back up. "Something about this was different. I think he's going to be in this for the long hall."

After that the group fell back into silence, a black cloud of uncertainty already hovering over their sunny freshman year.

* * *

Bass floated uneasily as he traveled the cyberworld's own null space, the part of the net that was neither network or undernet. He often came here to think, here he could remain undisturbed from either plane. He couldn't explain it, how was Megaman could always get to him. The blue navi reminded him so much of himself. The trust and love he felt for his operator, Bass had known that feeling too but it hadn't lasted. If that bond couldn't last between a creator and his creation how could it last forever between a simple child and something that had been given to him as a gift?

Yet they were so close; Lan always stuck to Mega like glue. The navi was right, he would never be able to truly condemn humanity if those two always stood on the way. He would have to prove things one way or the other. But how?

He closed his eyes as he began to search through the data he had collected at the city hall. So many things had occurred since he had last resurfaced. Regal had returned, created a dematerilzation program to draw organic life into the cyberworld then destroyed his own. Lan had even gained two more comrades, once of which had created a program that allowed a PET to sustain a navi in reality. The solo navi stopped there; that was it.

* * *

"So have you heard the news? Bass EXE is back." A security navi stated to his parter as they guarded the materialization program inside Sci Lab's mainframe.

"Seriously? That's great, that's the last thing we need. The net just finally settled down again." The other replied as he scanned to area bringing up his blaster when he noticed a movement in the shadows. "Who's there?" The navi demanded, fear overcoming him when the figure stepped out of the dark.

Bass grinned as he drew some of his power into the palm of his hand preparing his attack. "Say goodnight." he stated as released the orb of energy watching it slam into the two other navis knocking them off line. He laughed to himself as he knelt down placing his hands on the navi's helmets drawing off the last few minutes of their memories, this really was all too easy. After he finished he turned his attention to the program watching it as it glimmered, floating inside its stasis field, activating his get ability program as he reached through the thin barrier making it this own...

* * *

"Uggghh... oh no...hey wake up!" one of the security navis exclaimed as he shook his parter out of stasis.

"We fell asleep?" the other asked as he shot up looking around breathing a sigh of relief as he looked above him seeing that the program was safe and sound.

"Do you think anyone saw us?" The first one asked.

"It doesn't seam so..." The other replied, "but something did." he continued as he pointed to the monitor window that served as their backup if they were ever compromised. "I can't get bumped back down to grunt work."

Bass snickered as he watched the two navis go off to cover his tracks for him while running through the program he had just acquired. Lan and Megaman weren't going to know what hit them.

TBC


End file.
